I took my 14 year old grandson out this morning for his first hunt of the season. He killed a jake two years ago but that was his only bird.
I had scouted earlier in the week and seen four or five longbeard together in a pipeline one evening. I had an idea where they roosted and we got there in plenty of time this morning. Another hunter pulled up by us in his Jeep right at gobbling time. He's a loud talker and wanted to visit. We heard nothing after he left so I went down the road a bit to another spot. We had one gobbling but he went away from us on flydown. We tried to follow but it got so thick, we opted to back out and go at him another way.
That worked! We sat up on the other side of him and he responded to calling. As the gobbling got closer, it was clear there were two gobbling!
We had one on one side and two gobbling and coming down a pipeline from the other side. We quickly shifted in intercept the two gobblers. They gobbled REAL close and then we could see them. Not two, FOUR longbeards strolling in. My grandson was directly in front of me and had a wide open shot at the lead bird as he stopped and periscoped his head up at my clucking. BOOM! I saw the head hit the gobbler's back so I knew it was a done deal. The bird flopped, the other three milled about and my middle school lineman grandson bolted more like a running back. :laugh:
He scared the other three toms half to death when he came flying out of the woodline.
The tom was a real trophy. 1 1/2" spur and 1 3/8" spur, a 10 1/2" beard and ANOTHER beard of 8". Yep, his first longbeard was a double-bearded STUD!
I did not weigh the bird. That may have been a mistake. At an estimated weight of 20 lbs 4 oz, this tom would have been the #8 registered Eastern in the State of Texas! Even dropping a pound he would still take #8...

Last edited by Tail Feathers on April 23rd, 2016, 6:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.